Strip-search policy review / S.F. sheriff asked for statistics

Elizabeth Fernandez, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published
4:00 am PDT, Saturday, September 13, 2003

Sheriff Michael Hennessey said he is reviewing his jail system's regulations on strip searches and isolation cell detainments "to see if improvements can be made," though he noted that San Francisco's jails are considered among the most humane in the country.

Hennessey said he is also, at the behest of the city attorney's office, researching the number of people who undergo strip-searches in the jails, which process some 50,000 people annually.

"There are thousands of people we don't strip-search," said Hennessey, responding to a Chronicle story last week on federal lawsuits by two women who say they were stripped and put naked into special cells. His comments were made both in an interview and in an article he wrote for The Chronicle.

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Deborah Flick, 39, a student teacher arrested in March on suspicion of public intoxication, said she was stripped and spent hours naked on the floor of a cold cell at the jail; no charges were filed against her.

Mary Bull, 48, a San Francisco activist, said she was forcibly strip- searched and "left naked in the 'cold room.' "

Hennessey, who is seeking his seventh, four-year term as sheriff, said the jail system's strip-search policies have been periodically modified "as case law changed. We've tried to keep abreast of the law, the changing interpretations."

Strip-searches, he said, are "limited to situations involving serious crimes, instances where there is a specific risk of weapons or contraband, safety cell placements, or when transferring to another jail for housing."

He described strip searches as being "closely regulated . . . conducted by a staff person of the same sex in an area where others cannot observe."

In her lawsuit, Bull said a male deputy entered the room "and watched as (her) clothes were pulled off, three deputies forced her to lie on her back, naked, bent her legs towards her chest, and visually inspected her genital and rectal areas. (She) was then left naked in the 'cold room' and the metal door shut."

Her lawsuit alleges that the cells are kept "bone chillingly cold" and are used to punish, or to "compel consent to illegal strip searches."

Hennessey said that the safety cells are kept the same temperature as the rest of the facility. "We have no "bare cement" safety cells or cold cells," he said.

He also said jail policies conform to state law.

California law prohibits strip searches or visual body cavity searches on people being held in custody before arraignment on a misdemeanor or infraction offense except those involving weapons, controlled substances or violence unless a peace officer has reasonable suspicion, "based on specific and articulable facts," to believe they are concealing a weapon or contraband.

Numerous federal appeals courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco, have extended the protection to include those arrested for felonies unless there is a reasonable suspicion that they have contraband or weapons.

In the San Francisco jail system, "safety cells" are designed for detainees who could harm themselves, Hennessey said.

"These are pretty stark and bleak places," he said. "The people we put in here are pretty self-destructive. . . . If someone is trashing around, crazed and angry, that's why we put them in safety cells.

"We've had people eating feces, mutilating themselves, gouging their eyes out, ripping their hair out, all those things have happened. We had a person once who was a known mutilator. They opened his mouth, he had two razor blades in there."

After being strip-searched, "to prevent asphyxiation or retention of dangerous objects," detainees in safety cells are immediately given a thick, "rip-proof safety garment" to wear, he said.

"(The garments) are washed after every use," he said. "The cells are cleaned after every use."